Merc 65hp on a Jet Star? (now with pictures!)

[ezmobee]

Re: Merc 65hp on a Jet Star? (now with pictures!)

Ditto. That shield and steering wheel look sweet.

 

[Gibbles]

Re: Merc 65hp on a Jet Star? (now with pictures!)

Thanks

The windshield worked out better than I had hoped, my original plan was not as pretty, I was going to make a frame out of some aluminum tubing and get some UV rated vinyl.

Nice part was how adjustable the windshield was, I could even slide around the mounting bolts for a better fit once I had the holes drilled, and nuts started.

 

[Gibbles]

Re: Merc 65hp on a Jet Star? (now with pictures!)

And I'm not sure what I'm going to do with the seating

the frame I made worked out pretty well, but it's ugly...

I also want to extend the frame for back seats, and have them swivel like the front seats..

Right now I have the front seats spaced perfectly, if I fold them down they will rotate a full 360 degrees, but only if I fold them down...

For the back seats I want to be able to remove them, for most of the fishing by my self I want the back seats out, but I want to be able to take more than 2 people out at a time...


Maybe keep the same idea I have now, but clean it up a bit, use some plywood for the framing instead of 2x4's and box them in fully?

I really wish the jetstar had a nice deep V with a flat floor sometimes, it would make things easier

 

[Gibbles]

Re: Merc 65hp on a Jet Star? (now with pictures!)

I'm also thinking about painting just the back of the boat, maybe a black or something to make it easy...

I tried to find some of that two part tractor paint, but no luck yet...

not sure if I should even bother... I just put some scratches in the paint while removing the transom...

I also need to take the boat down so I can get a match for both the dark green (almost black), and the off white to do some patches in the paint...

 

[Gibbles]

Re: Merc 65hp on a Jet Star? (now with pictures!)

I think I have decided what I'm going to do with the floors...

As of right now I'm planning on making a flat bench/platform with some of my left over 3/4in plywood, and I will try and fit the piece as straight and as flush with the sides of the boat as I can get it...

On the floor I will install some 3/4 or 1/2in plywood as a mounting base in the center, and on the sides...

Kind of what lake lover did to support his bench, but more so since I don't have the side brackets any more (wish I knew what the prev owner was thinking when he removed them)...

Then fill in the space left over under with fitted pieces, and then epoxy it all together hopefully to end up with that one piece look or close to it...

For the floor I'm thinking about 1/2in board, and then use my saw to slice into it about a 1/4in for flex, that should give me a nice solid feeling floor...

I'm also thinking about just going with 1/4in for ease of install, and to keep it light weight...

For the front I do want to make it a tad heavier, but I want to keep the rear as light as I can...


Once I have the floor in I want to look at maybe making some side panels, mostly with the idea of storage space in mind...


Then the lazy/cheap part of me wants to just rip up the bad carpet and paint the floors....


I also need to finish installing the insulation in the garage door, I had started the task over the summer, but then got side tracked...

Propane is killing my wallet...
I'm just glad the previous owner left me 2 13 year old propane tanks, exchanged them for new ones and I'm now just having them refilled...

oh well, off to lowes to get some some insulation to finish the garage door, right now It takes me one full tank of propane to keep the garage warm for 15-20hrs enough to cure epoxy...

and in the end I think I'm going to need another 2qts of epoxy to finish this up how I want it... :facepalm:

I don't plan on selling this boat, so I want to do it right...

 

[Gibbles]

Re: Merc 65hp on a Jet Star? (now with pictures!)

And I have fantastic news!

I'm dumb...


My mercury 110 9.8hp kicker motor is a long shaft!

I have noidea why I thought it was a short shaft, I guess the trolling motor mount held it higher than I remembered...

I have it sitting on the stand next to the rest of my mercs that are all long shaft models, and the prop sits just as low as the rest of them

boy I'm glad I did not start ordering parts to convert... I would of looked silly(er)

 

[lakelover]

Re: Merc 65hp on a Jet Star? (now with pictures!)

....
For the floor I'm thinking about 1/2in board, and then use my saw to slice into it about a 1/4in for flex, that should give me a nice solid feeling floor...

I'm also thinking about just going with 1/4in for ease of install, and to keep it light weight...

There are about as many solutions as there are projects! I would go with the 1/4" ply for ease of workability and you can seal it up real good pretty easily. I'd avoid using the 1/2" and making cuts into it, I think it would be nearly impossible to get something like that sealed up so it would last any amount of time.

Just a thought.

 

[jasoutside]

Re: Merc 65hp on a Jet Star? (now with pictures!)

Yah, I'm with lake there on that...

If you are going concave 1/4 works very well and is really solid fastened to all those ribs . If you want a flat deck 3/4 would be great.

 

[Gibbles]

Re: Merc 65hp on a Jet Star? (now with pictures!)

good point about sealing it after making the cuts, and it would suck in more epoxy also.

 

[Gibbles]

Re: Merc 65hp on a Jet Star? (now with pictures!)

Today I have my FIL coming over to help me install the 65hp, I also have some new cable boots that I ordered a size probably a little to big, but if needed I can make the hole in my splash well larger if I need a bit more steering cable (allowing me to cut the corner a bit more).

I also got bit more cable by removing an old block I installed under the dash for my jerry rigged throttle cable setup, I think that alone will give me enough.

 

[Gibbles]

Re: Merc 65hp on a Jet Star? (now with pictures!)

I also bought the wood for my floor, I went with 1/4.

I'll do some head scratching to decide how to mount the seats, right now I'm thinking the 3/4 down the middle, screwed in from the underside of the ply + epoxy...

But I one more idea I have is to make two or 4 short boxes for the seats, leaving a little walk way down the middle...

I'll toss a rough ms paint together in a few minutes.

 

[Gibbles]

Re: Merc 65hp on a Jet Star? (now with pictures!)

First Idea

 

[Gibbles]

Re: Merc 65hp on a Jet Star? (now with pictures!)

second Idea

 

[Gibbles]

Re: Merc 65hp on a Jet Star? (now with pictures!)

Ok got the engines on the boat
Now its a 65hp on a jetstar

Does that say eat my wake or what?


Some minor issues... I have the kicker motor raised by about 2in, and I still have to have it over so far I cannot turn it while in the up position...

 

[Gibbles]

Re: Merc 65hp on a Jet Star? (now with pictures!)

And here is a really messy picture of what I did with my transom to get an idea...

I'll try and get a better picture as I clean out the boat in order to yank the floor

 

[lakelover]

Re: Merc 65hp on a Jet Star? (now with pictures!)

A question & a comment....How heavy is that 65? I'm wondering how much weight both of those motors together will add to the stern. Not so concerned about the transom itself, but how it will sit in the water and plane. Do you plan to have your fuel tank/battery up front?

Good drawings, but I think you'll be surprised about how little room you have between the seats once you get them fitted in. I only ended up with 9" between my seats, just enough room to take a step really. Maybe you realize that, but the drawings aren't proportional unless you have very narrow seats. I probably could have moved them all over toward the side 2-3 more inches, but wanted to make sure it was plenty roomy for big people so they wouldn't be up against the side of the boat. Another reason was that sitting closer to the center would balance the load a little better if I was alone.

How did you end up sealing your transom wood?

 

[Pugetsound]

Re: Merc 65hp on a Jet Star? (now with pictures!)

I cut my floors from the long side . Took 2 sheets with enough for the bow left over. Dont knoe how the jJet Star floor is but the way I fit them matched what was factory installed.on my 16 SS .

 

[Gibbles]

Re: Merc 65hp on a Jet Star? (now with pictures!)

To seal my transom I used west system epoxy w/206 hardner.
From what I understand that gives me a bit of UV protection...

Weight is a worry of mine...
From what I have found, the 20hp engine I had on there weighed about 100lbs

that 3 cyl 65hp seems to weigh right around 200lbs from what I have been able to find.

That 9.8hp is about 40-50lbs

I am installing a fuel tank up front, Once I have the new floor in I will start working on some sort of platform...
I plan on installing the battery in the back for ease, and I like the idea of keeping the battery & fuel on different ends of the boat.

For the fuel line I was thinking about routing maybe some copper line up and under the port gunwales, then rubber connections going to and from... with hopes that the hard fuel line will give me very good suction.


Drawings for the seats were rough at best, not scale.

Right now I have just enough space between the seats to take a step, not much else...

Making a straight bench across will take a lot less work and less fitting
Another worry is making sure I have a solid spot to install the mounts, the bench makes it so I can run a support down the middle, boxes would mean I might not have a strong spot unless I get it right on a rib...

I'm leaning strongly towards the straight bench setup.


And for the floors, I looked at them again, and the main floor is one (x2) solid 8ft sheet, the front piece is just one little piece that sits across the front.
I think I might get away with just the two sheets of plywood

 

[Gibbles]

Re: Merc 65hp on a Jet Star? (now with pictures!)

Also the transom is very solid, I hung off the back of the engine and the only flexing I saw was the trailer

The lower part of the transom also sits flat against metal, when done I plan on installing some angle aluminum and rivets for more support (Idea in my head was it's supposed to be part of the support for the kicker mount, and maybe a small ladder later on, give me a solid spot to mount from).

That transom also fits about as tight as I can get it, if the sides of the boat shrink at all they will hit the aluminum, I'm glad I fitted that thing while it was 20 outside.
Bad part is the next transom in that thing will be a b**ch to get out.

the clearance of one of the knees is a bit wider only because I installed the transom backwards, and started trimming thinking I measured wrong, then I got the bright idea to flip it around :facepalm:

 

[Gibbles]

Re: Merc 65hp on a Jet Star? (now with pictures!)

Also the steering cable was perfect, but I did have to take off my control panel.

I had that panel pushed up under the dash and the steering cable needed to cut the corner a bit more at that spot, after that it fit perfect.

And me cheaping out on the steering arm worked out perfectly!

the PN: 89638A1 was the same in every way from the 89638A3 my manual called for.
I could not find any differences.

89638A3 = $50 shipped - for best price I could find
89638A1 = $25 shipped - that guy had been listing that part for a looong time.